Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi
Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi is an American animated television series created by Sam Register for Cartoon Network. Produced by Renegade Animation and Cartoon Network Studios, the series stars fictionalized and animated versions of the Japanese pop rock group Puffy AmiYumi. The series premiered on November 19, 2004 and ended on June 27, 2006 with a total of three seasons and 39 episodes, leaving a total of 34 episodes aired and five episodes unaired in North America. During its run, the series has been nominated for an Annie Award three times. The series was met with mostly positive reviews, and has developed a strong cult following. Merchandise based on the series has also been produced during its run, such as video games, home media releases, toys, and clothing. Premise Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi follows the adventures of two pop stars and best friends: Yumi Yoshimura (Grey DeLisle), a cynical, sarcastic, rough and tough punk rocker; and Ami Onuki (Janice Kawaye), a peppy, optimistic and cute schoolgirl. Both are based off the real Japanese pop duo Puffy AmiYumi, but with different appearances and exaggerated personalities. They travel around the world on their customized tour bus along with their well-intentioned yet greedy manager Kaz Harada (Keone Young). From rocking out at a concert to hanging out in their hometown of Tokyo, the duo take the world by storm with their musical talent, trend-setting style, and humor, dishing out lessons in J-pop justice and establishing the international language of "cool" along the way. Secondary characters include: Jang-Keng (Grey DeLisle) and Tekirai (Janice Kawaye), the duo's pet cats who enjoy tormenting Kaz; Harmony (Sandy Fox), a six-year-old girl who is the self-proclaimed "Number One Fan" of Puffy AmiYumi and (later) Kaz and constantly stalks them; Eldwin Blair (Nathan Carlson), a sinister land developer who tries to tear down beloved places for his own selfish needs; King Chad (Katie Leigh), a selfish "bad boy" who is a master of the card game Stu-Pi-Doh! (a parody of Yu-Gi-Oh!); the evil Talent Suckers (Nathan Carlson; Corey Burton), a vampire rock trio from Transylvania; and Atchan (Rob Paulsen), a caricature of Vo Atsushi (lead singer of the pop band New Rote'ka) who speaks in third-person and thinks he is a superhero. The animated Puffy AmiYumi travel all over the world in their tour bus. While appearing the same size as a regular bus on the outside, it appears to have enough internal space to house the girls' rooms (including full-sized beds), Kaz's room, their equipment, televisions, and computers, among other things. In the episode "Domo", Kaz refers to an upstairs area. It also seems capable of running on autopilot, as Kaz, Ami, and Yumi are sometimes sitting in the rear cabin of the bus while traveling. Occasionally, the rear door has been opened to receive packages delivered by a boy on a scooter. During the first season, the show included live-action clips of the real Ami and Yumi making childish commentary (in English and non-subtitled Japanese) at the beginning and end of each episode. They only performed short clips at the beginning of the show during the second and third seasons. Starting with the second season, the duo was sometimes shown holding title cards introducing the cartoon segments. At the end of the episode "Sitcomi Yumi", Ami and Yumi watched television and saw the animated Kaz with the real Ami and Yumi. All of the live-action clips were produced by Freegate, Ltd. The real PUFFY performs the cartoon's theme song (which is also in Japanese, German, Spanish, and Portuguese in the respective regions), and many episodes feature one or more of the duo's songs playing in the background, along with music by Andy Sturmer. Though the characters speak English, the script intersperses their vernacular with Japanese speech, especially when the characters react to events that they find to be surprising. Calling out "Tasukete!" instead of "Help!" is commonly used. Category:Cartoon Network Category:Cartoon Network Studios Category:Cartoon Hall Of Fame Wiki Category:Renegade Animation